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This will be my FIRST actual mechanical work that I perform on my GTV-300 without supervision. I have this odd feeling that I will be paying for it dearly but I felt it time to start learning about this stuff myself.
Last week in preparation, I purchased at Sears in the US a 200-piece Mechanics Tool Set by Craftsman, a complete set of screw drives including Torque Drivers and some other fancy and odd-looking tools that I thought may be needed when working on my Vespa.
I got these because the package from Scooter West with all of the LED lights including their own LED conversion whereby it converts the turn signals to LED Bright running lights and keeps the orange turn signals came to my US PO Box that day. I was shopping for these types of tools. I had researched what kind and brand is best. Most recommended Craftsman Tools if you were not going to spend the money on Snap-On. I was very lucky since the sale price for my 200 Piece kit was $ 99.00. This was an unbelievable price and that is why I bought it.
Upon my return from Sandbanks on Monday afternoon, I layed out out all of my newly purchased tools, got out my tablet and connected to Scooter West’s Tech Videoson how to perform the installation. These videos are educational and easy to follow. Almost like having a tech-person by my side. These are the following two videos that I used for the Installation. They were perfect.
The only difference for my GTV was that I have to remove the front luggage rack before removing the front horn cover. I figured out this part on my own and actually had the opportunity to use some of my newly acquired tools including the ratchet and sockets and hex keys.
The complete installation took about 20 Minutes and there were no problems. Chantal even helped. Afterwards I had a great feeling of accomplishment. I am far more confident and ready to install the bullet lights as soon as the mounts are painted.
This is an example of the LED lights. The brake lights seem as bright as or brighter than the original and the front lights look very bright. I will take a video later when it is dark and post it to see in the dark.
At night they are even cooler. I can see more of the immediate area in front of the
I believe people will see more of me, especially since the front light was low on the fender and not higher like the other Vespa models.
In the final movie below, you can see the Vespa as it turns the corner at the opposite end of our street.
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Have you had any issues with these front LEDs? I have the same 2012 gtv bike as you, and mine white LEDs only come on intermittently after using the turn signals. I know scooterwest has this disclaimer:
“We have come to find that there is an occasional glitch with the LED turn signal kit. It has only occurred on some of the kits we have sold. Sometimes, when you cancel the turn signal it can take up to 30 seconds for the running light to come back on.
It’s due to the nature of LED bulbs and the way they pick up interference. We’re actively looking for new bulb sources and continually testing other brands of LED bulbs. LED bulb technologies are relatively new and evolving on a daily basis. There are only a few bulbs with this level of sophistication that will work for this application that we have been able to find. The ones included with the kit are the best ones we’ve been able to find to date.”
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Actually I had this same problem when I first installed the LED lights. In fact, I realized the problem was when I turned my G TV steering column to the left. If I remember correctly, when I turned to the left my blinker would stop and the white light would not come back on. This problem bothered me quite a bit at the time, however shortly thereafter I found the solution when I had the front glove box open. I was wiring this site LED lights when I noticed a couple of wires that were spliced open coming down to steering column. I could not understand how this happened since the bike was new. But to wires were spliced as if they were cut or ripped while the bike was assembled or they were too tight to the steering column. These two wires caused an intermittent short affecting the blinkers. The minute I taped the wires, the problem was gone.
Since then I have had no problems with those front LED running lights or the blinkers.
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